The country is also
shifting attention to renewable energy to
meet the needs of the economy.

Vietnam may need to
invest about VND859 trillion ($38 billion) in electricity generation, transmission
and distribution infrastructure between now and 2020 to meet domestic demand,
the government said in a new report.

That is equivalent to 20
percent of the country's gross domestic product last year.

According to the report,
about 75 percent of the investment will go to generation and the remaining 25
percent to upgrade, repair and expand the national transmission and
distribution system.

The government said a
majority of the investment would be funded by loans and the state budget would
cover only 0.5 percent.

The average electricity
consumption steadily grew at 13 percent between 2000 and 2010, and about 11
percent between 2011 and 2015, said Le Tuan Phong, deputy head of the General
Directorate of Energy, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The country’s
electricity demand is expected to continue to grow 13 percent annually in the
next four years to feed the economy, which has grown above 5 percent a year on
average since 1999 and is forecast to reach 6.5-7 percent in the next four
years.

It is estimated that
Vietnam will need about 47 billion kilowatt-hours by 2030 for the annual
economic growth rate of 7 percent.

Vietnam is trying to
generate enough energy for growth and for millions of people who still lack
access to electricity while gradually shifting towards clean and low-carbon
energy, said Tran Dinh Thien, who heads the Vietnam Economic Institute.

The government has
recently revised down the target for electricity generation by coal-fired
thermal power plants from 56.4
percent of the total electricity generation to 53.2 percent by 2030.

Vietnam is more focused
on renewable energy, particularly solar and wind energy,
targeting a renewable energy ratio of 10.7 percent by 2030.

But that will require a
lot of investment in the coming years. Wind and solar power capacity
is estimated to account for only 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent of total
electricity generation respectively by 2020.